Bab 52: Wrath, Repayment and Power
"Guo Zhu... Since when did you reserve the right to punish those under my employ?" The monk tilted his head as the atmosphere around him turned a few degrees colder.
In an instant, the pressure that the King was exuding was matched by the Monk, all of the Enforcers behind the King immediately falling to their knees, as most of them weren't even Martial Masters, and the King himself was forced to take a step back.
"W-what's the meaning of this?!"
"The Great Sage Mo, was this powerful?!
"Shit... So the rumours of him knocking out the Captain with a punch weren't false!"
It was a different kind of aura. Guo Zhu's felt refined and majestic... But the Monk's was something that inspired a lot more fear.
It was feral, wild. It felt as if they were staring at the eyes of a beast whilst already within its jaws.
It was so dreadful that many Martial Soldiers fell to their knees within seconds. None could withstand more than 10 seconds, however, not even the Martial Masters.
Only the King remained standing on that side, slightly startled once more by the Monk's overwhelming aura.
Guard Qiu behind the Monk was also shielded from all pressure, but that didn't mean she wasn't completely petrified and trembling in her boots.
'G-gods! Sage Mo is fighting the King for me!'
An equal amount of fear and warmth filled the short woman. But when seeing how the King wasn't backing down, fear won over any other kind of emotion.
In the distance, a skinny old man dressed in rags lay on a roof. His hair was whitened by old age, and his eyes were an eerie blue.
"As expected of one who has mastered an Universal Law..."
The old man muttered before turning around and dashing away. The Monk only spared him a glance before turning back towards the King.
"Who was the one to break her arm?" His tone sounded almost hostile, and the king's face twisted even further with rage.
"I was the one to do it personally! You've put me in a very bad position! Just be glad that your subordinate was punished instead of you!"
The King didn't seem to be deterred despite the overwhelming pressure that the monk exuded.
Even though most of the people behind him were already unable to stand up straight, he still refused to budge.
However, the monk was a bit different from the previous time he had faced the king. He had no reason to fear losing, he had no reason to fear the king at all.
After all, there were much stronger beings out there in the world, they were more deserving of the monk's fear than the frustrated king throwing a tantrum in front of him.
"Guo Zhu, extend your arm."
The Monk's request was quick and simple, he extended his palm and beckoned the King to come closer. His intention was pretty clear to anyone who could still raise their head to watch the two.
Guo Zhu immediately realized the Monk's intentions as well, he was just frustrated beyond reason, not fully stupid yet.
"M-Mo Yangling! Do not force my hand! You've already been missing for a long time! Do you know the kind of position you've put me in during the past two weeks?"
The King's anger still boiled, even stronger now. His pride didn't seem to accept that one of the people living in his kingdom would retaliate against him in such a way...
But Mo Yangling's demeanour and following response poured a bucket of cold water right onto his head.
"King Guo, with all due respect... Stop talking shit.
You put yourself in that position... I never asked for the title of sage, I didn't even know it was such a big deal.
You knew I'd be out hunting for materials as well, so what were you expecting? For me to lure in Demonic Generals in the Captial to hunt them down?"
The monk couldn't help but sneer as he spoke, the fact that the king was blaming him for anything was, to put it simply, disgusting.
Because of his frustrations at his mistakes, the King decided to seriously injure one of the people he had personally hired. It was like a slap to the face.
'Amitabha, King or not, you can't just go about doing whatever you wish in this world...'
"Y-You dar-" The king opened his mouth, but before he could react, the Monk's hand shot out like a snake clasping his mouth shut.
"Shh, shh... You know how the world works already. Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be."
The King hadn't expected the monk to be that fast, which was what led to him getting caught in the first place. But he was not exactly an easy man to hold in place.
He spat out a chilling white meat right into the monk's leathery palm, that mist immediately grew into a small cloud and swallowed up the monk's entire arm.
The king controlled it, not wanting to kill the monk in any way. He needed Mo Yangling alive and well.
The monk didn't even wince as the mist started disintegrating away his arm's skin and muscles.
But, unlike what the King expected, the Monk didn't let go of his mouth, his grip didn't weaken at all either.
'Is he... Is he healing!?' The king's eyes widened as he watched the Monk's skin and flesh regrown constantly, before decaying and surging forth again.
Indeed, Mo Yangling's Origin Energy Charged healing was outhealing the Decaying Mist he had spat out.
Before the King could even process that information, the Monk grabbed his wrist and pulled it forward with a force that almost made the Nascent Soul cultivator stumble.
And with a simple movement, the Monk slammed the sharpest point of his knee right into the King's elbow, immediately bending his hand backwards, breaking it much like that of his subordinate was.
It was only then that he let go of the King, who immediately jumped back, spitting out decaying mist almost instinctively, aiming to do more harm to the monk.
But it was not enough to make the monk sweat, he simply clapped his hands together, immediately dispersing the mist before it even came close to him this time.
"How dare you..." The king growled as he held onto his broken arm, he simply couldn't believe that he had allowed such a thing to happen.
But at the same time, had he lashed out, a good portion of the middle ring and wall would've been destroyed.
Seeing how the only injury the Monk had sustained was a ruined sleeve, the King doubted that a fight against him would be a quick one...
Simply put, the Monk's threat at the Great Family Assembly was not an empty one, not even close...
There was one silver lining at least, there was no witness to his humiliation.
Well, no one aside from the Monk's subordinate, who was staring at them with wide eyes, her thoughts impossible to guess.
All of the other Enforcers behind the King were knocked out or had their gazes fixated on the ground due to the pressure the monk was exuding, so no one had seen it happen.
Those who were half-conscious knew that the Monk and their King had clashed.
"Amitabha, how dare I? What did you expect? You plant melons, you get melons; You plant beans, you get beans; You break an arm that isn't yours, you should be prepared for your arm to be broken in turn."
The Monk smiled as if what had happened was merely the natural course of things. But it was in fact not, Guo Zhu also wanted to argue that deep down.
He was a King. He decided whose arms broke and who broke them, he was one destined to rule.
But at the same time, Guo Zhu knew that arguing with the Monk in any way was just a bad idea. So he simply punched his broken arm back in place and looked back at the monk.
"I will forgive this transgression for now... Make your way to the palace immediately, the Scholars from all nearby factions are here to test your knowledge..."
The King's cold eyes bore into the Monk's own. He ignored the pain from his fractured bones, and he ignored the burning feeling of shame and inadequacy he had when staring at the monk.
For now, he only cared about salvaging his reputation and face with the nearby countries. '
'It will all be worth it if he managed to shut them all up. I can decide on how to deal with this afterwards...'
"Amitabha, was it really that hard? Could've just knocked on my door normally and told me that from the start."
The Monk nodded and smiled as he brought his palms together in prayer, a wide smile spreading on his face. The pressure he was emitting instantly died down, no longer holding the Enforcers frozen in fear.
"You better not disappoint me!" The King shouted before his entire body was swallowed up by the mist.
The Monk just scowled at his parting words before shaking his head.
"... Annoying prick." He then turned back towards Guard Qiu... Who currently seemed to be starstruck.
And how couldn't she be? Her employer, a man that she didn't know that well personally yet, had just gone out of his way to punish the King of their country of all people for breaking her arm!
Not only punish, he had actually broken the King's arm! Such a thing was simply unheard of! She didn't even know how to process it...
'D-does he... Does he like me?'
Alas, the Monk didn't see her any differently than he saw the other servants that frolicked about. He would've done much the same if the King had picked on one of the Gardners instead.
"Go inside and get treated, Mo Qiao must've hired a Physician... I'm off to the Palace for now."
The Monk nodded at her before turning around and walking off, whistling as he did so.
One thing was clear... He was in no rush to run towards the palace.
'They all waited a lot for me already, what's a few minutes more?'
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